Wednesday, September 29, 2010

This weekend we are holding the Southeastern PAHoneybee Symposium- "Bee Fest"- on Saturday, October 2nd at Temple Ambler. This event, hosted by the Montgomery County Beekeeper's Association (MCBA) will feature Honeybee experts from the Florida Department of Agriculture, Penn State, and the Eastern Apiculture Society. There is also a full day beginner's beekeeping course taught by Jim Bobb, a member of MCBA.

I'll be in charge of the honey table where we will feature liquid and comb honey from our members and we will also be selling bee themed T-shirts and other merchandise.

Registration is only $30 per person, $15 for students and can be found here.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Last weekend, Cindy and I went to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravagnaza XVII. It was my first quilt show and I was soooo excited! There were so many amazing quilts and I took way too many photos. I won't bore all of you with all of my quilt pictures, so here are my top 10. By the way- it was really really hard to narrow it down to 10...

Love the purple and black

Two of my obsessions- trees and little birds- of course this was one of my favorites!

I think this one was trying to describe the quilters different personalities or something like that

This one was layered squares of fabric

This one was inspired by a biology book... think red blood cells...

A poem

This may not look spectacular, but the dark lines were burned into the fabric with a soldering iron

Close up of the soldered fabric

I love all of the bright colors, curves, and points

I love the panels that separate the different styles- especially the different techniques that are used to make the trees

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I finally finished the quilting and binding on my Project Pure challenge quilt. I don't normally machine quilt, but I thought this was a good way to practice since it was a smaller quilt. I had to do straight lines because my antique machine doesn't have the ability to lower the feed dogs (these are the little teeth that pull material past the needle). I replicated the vertical pattern horizontally in the quilting (thanks for the idea Cindy!).

Quilting pattern is taped out using blue painter's tape

Quilt is layered (top, binding, backing) and pinned together every few inches with safety pins

The blue tape is used as a guide for machine quilting

The finished product!

We had a meeting of the Philadelphia Modern Quilt Guild this week where everyone was able to show off their creations using the Pure fabric. It is amazing what different quilts result from the same fabric.

Quilted letters: These blocks say "live" and "love." I'm a very straight lines kind of girl, so this styles makes me a little nervous, but when I see other people pull it off so well, it makes me want to give it a shot!

When we graduated from graduate school, our office manager, Kathryn, gave the girls each a monogrammed mug from Anthropologie. We currently have a "G" and an "A" mug living in our cupboard. Okay- maybe they aren't hand made, but they are pretty cute! Fill them with some home made candy or wrap them in a hand sewn bag and it still counts as a hand made gift in my book- or maybe semi-homemade... Sandra Lee would approve.

Of course I should have known that Martha would pull through with many monogrammed crafts. On marthastewart.com, there are free downloadable monogrammed labels, boxes, party favors, napkins, pillow cases, etc.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

On Friday, Amy and I had a BBQ for the Temple horticulture staff and a few other friends. The event was a pot-luck and everyone brought fantastic dishes!

Our great spread!

The BBQ was also a chance for us to try a few new things and use a lot of the produce that we have been harvesting lately.

I had more rhubarb to use, so I tried a different type of rhubarb bar. I wanted to try one that was a little more solid, so the guests could pick them up rather than eating them with a fork. Like the last rhubarb bars, I found this recipe on the Rhubarb Compendium web site.

I cut the recipe in half and baked in a 9" square pan. I also just noticed that the crust ingredients call for powdered sugar; I used granulated because I didn't notice this. The cooking time was at least and hour and 15 mins and they were still pretty moist inside when we cut the bars the next day for the BBQ. They tasted great. Tart rhubarb with a sweet base. Rhubarb is my new favorite ingredient!

Pre-bake the crust for 15 minutes before adding the filling

Adding the filling

Finished Rhubarb Dream Bars, yum!

Amy also decided to use some of the very ripe bananas that we have in the freezer. Okay, we didn't grow them, but the bread was really tasty so I thought it deserved a mention! We used a recipe called "Boy's Favorite Banana Bread" from Kim Yeffer. I can't remember where I got this recipe, but I'm sure Kim is a relative or friend of someone that I know. Either way, thanks for the recipe, Kim, the bread is great!

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar. Mix well. Add the eggs and bananas; blend thoroughly. Combine the milk and lemon juice. Alternately fold in the flour mixture and mild mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. Pour batter into a buttered 9x5x3 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched in the center.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

On Sunday, September 19th, we are having a harvest event at the community garden. It is in celebration of John Paul Endicott, who's life was cut tragically short in July. We had a volunteer work day in August with John Paul's friends and family. This weekend's event will be a birthday celebration for John Paul. It will also be a chance for guests to learn about organizations that support growing vegetables for those in need and eating local such as Plant a Row for the Hungry, Weaver's Way Co-op, Whole Foods Market, and Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard. More information about Sunday's event can be found on the John Paul Endicott memorial website.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

This summer in Michigan, we visited Bee Dazzled in Benzonia, MI. The owners are beekeepers who utilize products from the hive. They make candles, soaps, and body care products as well as selling honey from their hives and books. During my visit, I was able to talk to the owner, Sharon Jones, who gave me great advice on making my own soaps. I bought The Natural Soap Book by Susan Miller Cavitch. This books explains how to make cold-processed soap which utilizes the heat of the chemical reaction rather than an external heat source.

For the past few months, I have been collecting equipment from multiple thrift store and Ikea visits based on Cavitch's recommendations.

I used a recipe for Oatmeal Honey Soap from Cavitch's book. I used her "soap essentials bar" as a base. This recipe makes 40 bars, but I cut everything in 1/4 to make10 bars for my first try. Also, I have no idea what I would do with 40 bars of the same type of soap... I guess I would have some very clean friends!

So, I was all set up for soap making. I had my work area prepared and my ingredients measured. I decided to mix the lye solution (sodium hydroxide and water) outside on my patio because I have read that it produces fumes and needs ventilation. I slowly poured the sodium hydroxide into the water and witnessed the fumes and steam from the temperature rise that I expected. Then I stood back and the solution started to boil violently, while it starting spewing out of the metal pitcher, and turned this horrible black color. I started to realize that something was wrong. Referring back to my book, I read the important note that lye should only be mixed in glass or ceramic because it can react violently with metals... hmmm. I think they were right!

The black sludge from my first attempt at mixing a lye solution

So, now I had hazardous waste to deal with. After consulting with my dad who worked as a chemist, and doing a lot of googling, I found that a 1:15 dilution of lye to diluted vinegar would neutralize the very high pH of lye.

So, after neutralization and proper disposal of the first batch of lye (and the ruined container), I was determined to give it another try. I bought an 8 cup pyrex measuring cup and started the process again. Pouring the sodium hydroxide into the water produced fumes, but nothing like the first try. The solution became a little cloudy, but quickly cleared and heated up to about 200 degrees F. Perfect!

After melting the fats and oils on the stove, I added the grape seed oil which will act as a natural preservative. Then I let the mixture cool to 90 degrees F. Then I slowly added the lye solution to the fats and oils. Although the book advised against it, many soap making how-to's online suggest using an immersion blender to speed up the saponification reaction. Hand mixing might take hours of stirring before saponification occurs, and since I'm impatient, I chose the immersion blender method which took about 7 minutes of mixing. I mixed in quick bursts rather than a continuous mixing. I found this article to be very helpful: How to Make Cold Process Soap from Scratch.

I made a small mold out of cardboard lined with thick wax paper. It measured 12"x7.5"x4".

Soap in the mold

After the soap is poured in the mold, it must sit undisturbed for 18-24 hours before you can cut it into bars. I put it in my cold oven so it would cool down slowly and remain undisturbed.

Peeling the wax paper off and cutting the bars was a messy (yet clean!) job. There is a layer of soda ash on top of the bars that also must be cut off. Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is formed with the sodium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is drying and irritating to the skin. It was very hard to cut straight because I was using a small paring knife, so next time I'll use a larger knife. After cutting, the bars were placed on a brown paper bag and must dry for 4-6 weeks, so I'll report back in a month. In all, I'm very excited about my first attempt at making soap!

Gruide lines drawn on bars just about to be cut with a layer of soda ash still on top